Around The ‘Sphere

Our occasional medly of some fascinating posts from all over the Internet. They are NOT selected for or limited to specific political viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Moderate Voice.

ARE THE IRAQI ELECTIONS A WIN-WIN-WIN SITUATION? The (always witty and original) Talking Dog looks at the elections that just started and writes:

The best part of all: no matter what happens, the President can hail
having brought "democracy" to the Arab world, and maybe get his
ever-dropping approval rating off of its recent low water marks. Iran
gets a Shia-dominated government favorable to it, Sunni "insurgents"
get a freshly stoked and resentful Sunni populace…

Man, talk about a "win-win-win" situation.

INSTAPUNDIT AND THE SINGULARITY SOCIALIST: Newshog writes about some of Glenn Reyolds’ favorite authors and gets a visit in his comment section from InstaPundit himself.  And the Internet’s top blogger explains a bit about how he tries to link as he takes care of important daily tasks.

GUESS WHO’S GETTING INTO THE RACE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION? The answer is here.

ISLAMIC MILITANTS ATTACK PAKISTANI PAPER AFTER  IT RUNS INTERVIEW WITH ISRAEL’S SHIMON PEREZ URGIN BETTER ISRAELI-PAKISTAN RELATIONS: IsraPundit has the details and here’s a small part:

So, the unidentified attackers apparently belonged to a religious group
(which might explain why they were yelling "God is great!"), and this
obviously happened as a result of the Peres interview, yet we still
can’t quite come out and say so directly, instead stating that the
reason "wasn’t clear." We wouldn’t want anyone to get the idea that
Muslims hate Jews and would like to see the state of Israel destroyed,
now would we? Heaven forfend!

HAS THERE BEEN A QUIET INTERNATIONAL SHIFT? Digital Dissent’s Justin Delabar sees one, and explains in a must-read. A small portion:

In the international relations field there has been a debate over the
importance of nation-state actors ever since the rise of globalization
and, perhaps more importantly, terrorism by way of 9/11. Scholars have
claimed that the world was reaching a point where non-state actors
would take precedence over governments, be it the al Qaedas of the
world or the General Motors. However, the death of the nation-state has
been greatly exaggerated.

THE SIX DEGREES OF BLOGGING: Doug Petch finds he has a connection to Donald Sensing and wants to find out if any bloggers have even indirect connections to other bloggers or to him. (TMV has no connection to anyone since there is no other similar sublime perfection; just as Alan Keyes has no connection to anyone but ET.)

SPEAKING OF DONALD SENSING, he is one of our favorite writers. If you haven’t read him, Sensing is a former military official who is now a pastor. He writes some very serious and thoughtful stuff. On the elections he writes this:

1. The terrorist attempts to break up the election won’t do so and will
be actually less violent than expected. In fact, I predict that
election day will be a bonanza day for suppressing the terrorists
through capture or counterattack.

2. When the above becomes
known among Iraqis, Sunday evening and Monday will bring forth the most
widespread celebrations among the Iraqi people seen since the downfall
of Saddam. There will be dancing in the streets and brief period in
which these newly liberated people will be drunk on democracy, for a
day or two anyway.

I know I’m out on a limb, and if anyone
thinks I am engaging in wishful predictions, I plead guilty. But I
still think this will be so.

"…drunk on democracy…" Well, at least part of that should impress Ted Kennedy...

SPEAKING OF TED KENNEDY (we had to be snarky to get to this transition), New England Republican analyzes Massachusett’s senior Senator and finds he is nothing like his brother.

IS THIS WAR FOR OIL? John Pike thinks so and argues that this is precisely why we should support it.  He says the U.S. must be an imperial power and should defend its oil interests aggresssively. A tidbit of what he says:

So this war was certainly for oil. And so will the next one. And every president since Roosevelt has been fighting this same war. Because oil is like blood to the American way of life. Perhaps it would be better if it were not so. But it is, and is not likely to change in the next few decades.

But why can’t American presidents look into our nation’s collective eyes and level with us about what the stakes are in our covert and overt battle to maintain control over the Middle East–to admit that we must be an Imperialist nation? Because we Americans wouldn’t approve of the reflection of ourselves that we would see in his eyes.

ARE THOSE CAMERAS THAT ARE POPPING UP TO ENFORCE TRAFFIC LAWS A THREAT TO LIBERTY?  Tales of a Wandering Mind suggests we all take a deep breath before we get riled up…and he explains why.

ARE CONSERVATIVES USING CONDOLEEZA RICE’S RACE AS A POLITICAL TOOL? Pandagon’s Jesse Taylor says yes and explains why — partially by citing a columnists’ pitch for her.

MEANWHILE, THERE’S A CONTROVERSY ABOUT WHETHER MS. RICE IS BEING DUMBED DOWN: Robert Tagorda has the details.

THEY THINK THEY FOUND A DA VINCI STUDIO: And, no, we’re not referring to a studio used to film The Sopranos…but there is a slight tie in: it’s believed to be a studio where the famous artist dissected human bodies — and near where he met the inspiration for the Mona-You-Know-Who.

THE SOCIAL SECURITY BATTLE: Kevin Drum thinks the Bush plan is doomed and there is actually  some other strategical goal lurking behind the actual proposal.